Lakewood council adopts ordinance updating automated traffic-safety camera code

The Lakewood City Council on Monday adopted ordinance 837, amending Lakewood Municipal Code chapter 10.04 to clarify the city's rules for automated traffic-safety cameras.

City Attorney Heidi Wachter told the council the amendment corrects how the code references state law and clarifies the types of intersections covered. Wachter said the corrected language should read “intersections of two or more arterials with traffic signals that have yellow change interval durations,” and acknowledged two scrivener errors in the draft she provided to the council.

The change, Wachter said, preserves the city's current camera program and the existing handling of associated revenue. “You may maintain your current program with the cameras you currently have,” she said, while adding that any consideration of additional camera installations would be addressed under a new state law and would require a fuller proposal to the council.

Council member Branstetter asked whether the amendment would allow the city to add more intersections. Wachter replied that the amendment itself does not trigger the new state law and that staff expect to return to the council on Dec. 8 with “a better and more involved description of what it would look like in the city of Lakewood were we to add traffic cameras.”

Council member Pearson moved to adopt ordinance 837; Deputy Mayor Moss seconded. The council voted by voice and the motion carried. The roll call at the start of the meeting showed Council members Bell, Bokey, Branstetter, Laura Sella, Pearson, Deputy Mayor Moss and Mayor Whalen present; council members voted in favor.

The ordinance was adopted with the scrivener corrections noted by the city attorney. The council directed staff to return with a fuller analysis and proposal by the Dec. 8 meeting on the prospect of adding additional camera locations and the implications of the new state law.